log on to thegoan.net FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2025 @thegoanonline 12pages Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME X, NO. 230 Instagram.com/thegoanonline Governor gung-ho about Goa’s growth trajectory SPEAKS OF FDI INFLOW, REVIVAL OF MINING OPERATIONS THE GOAN I NETWORK Maruti Suzuki’s big comeback: Gearing up to reclaim top spot REVIEW: Kia Syros: The game changer in subfour-metre SUVs IN SHORT >> Don’t turn Goa into a concrete jungle, says SC PANAJI: In a major setback for the Goa government, the Supreme Court dismissed the State’s SLP challenging the order of the HC restraining construction in ODP areas of Calangute-Candolim-Arpora-Nagoa and Parra. The Division Bench even observed that Goa should not be turned into a concrete jungle. >> See pg 3 Jobs for cash: Cops file chargesheet PANAJI: Ponda police have filed a chargesheet of over 600 pages against Deepashri Sawant, Sagar Naik, and Sunita Pawaskar in the jobsfor-cash scam. Governor P S Sreedharan addressing the Goa legislative Assembly on Thursday. mining through auctions of eleven blocks and initial operations in two of these blocks, Sreedharan projected Goa to be in the pinkest of health, economically. On the social front, ON PAGE 3 PANAJI: In a major move to boost solar energy production through roof-top installations to 10 mega-watts, the State government could soon add an incentive of waiving off power bills of those opting for it for ten years. Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai in his address said that the State intends to provide subsidy on first-cum-first serve basis to achieve 10 MW of residential rooftop solar energy by June 2025. He said to achieve this target, the existing scheme will be dove-tailed to the PM Suryaghar Muft Bijli Yojana and the Goa Electricity Department will waive off all the charges in the Electricity bill for a period of 10 years. Sreedharan said, the government has ensured benefits to thousands of Goans via 100 per cent 'direct benefit transfers' (DBT) directly into beneficiary bank accounts under 166 schemes, 61 of which were Centrally-sponsored and the balance 105 bankrolled by the State. In the current fiscal, the government has transferred Rs 275.09 crore directly into beneficiary accounts until December 2024. CM calls out LoP for absence to escort Governor Opposition walks out during Gov’s address Sreedharan also dealt with the law-and-order scenario in the State for which the government has taken the stick in recent months following a series of incidents including murders, rapes, road accidents and scams, but he cited statistics to cherry pick the performance of the men in uniform who he said had achieved a >Continued on P7 10 months on, govt finally clears Agriculture Policy Technical glitch delays delivery of PDS grains for card holders POLICY ENSURES LIVELIHOOD SECURITY TO FARMERS, CULTIVATION OF EXOTIC FRUITS & SEWAGE PENALTIES THE GOAN I NETWORK fare Act to provide guaranteed livelihood security and incorporate sustainable practices and also the government procedures for farmers would be simplified. Sources said that the policy has laid focus on inclusion of women farmers and youth in agriculture through targeted programs and incentives, recognizing their crucial role in the sector’s development. PANAJI A technical glitch in the server has caused significant delays in the monthly distribution of food grains to ration card beneficiaries in the State, with the department of civil supplies informing that the same would be provided only after February 10. In a press statement issued on Thursday, Director civil supplies Jayant Tari said the beneficiaries under Public Distribution System may face difficulties in getting the food grains within the prescribed time limit in current month on account of unforeseen technical issues faced in the computer system and network server at the level of Food Corporation of India for more than a week. “The Department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs is making all efforts to restore the disrupted supply chain on account of the above issues,” he said. On Wednesday, the transportation of food grains begun >Continued on P7 >Continued on P7 THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Guaranteed livelihood security to farmers, inclusion of women farmers and youth in agriculture, cultivation and promotion of exotic fruits and penal action against those releasing sewage into agriculture fields, are some of the key features of ‘Goa State Amritkar Agriculture Policy 2024’ which was cleared by the State cabinet on Thursday -- more than ten months after it was submitted to the government. The Goan had in its Thursday edition highlighted how Chief Minister Pramod Sawant held back the policy, despite clearance from the Law and Finance department way back in August 2024. The policy document, comprising 150 pages, was submitted to the government on March 7, 2024. Highly placed sources confirmed that following the news report, the policy was included in today’s Cabinet meeting, which was held to clear the Business of the House scheduled for Friday. Sources said that following Cabinet approval, policy would now be notified in the official gazette, becoming a public document available in English, Konkani and Marathi. The policy proposes steps for legislative reforms aimed at creating a farmer-centric, sustainable and simplified legal framework. The policy proposes to enact the New Goa Farmers Wel- y6 page 6 Big push for solar energy: Govt to waive off power bills for 10 years On ar PANAJI Kicking off the two-day winter session, Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai, sang paeans about the performance and its agenda for the next year of the Pramod Sawant government in his nearly 80-minute address to the Goa legislative assembly on Thursday amidst a semi-boycott by the Opposition which is miffed that the government has restricted the sitting to just two days. From Goa’s projected Rs 1.21 lakh crore GSDP for 202425 at current prices clocking a healthy projected growth rate of 13.87% to 174-odd million USD foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow since 2019 and the signs of revival of iron ore Fe br u GILL GUIDES INDIA TO FOUR-WICKET WIN OVER ENGLAND >> 12 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 Buffalo gores 42-year-old man to death in Cuncolim Outrage in village as locals fume over inaction THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO Gloom descended at the Gaonkar waddo of Panzorconi-Cuncolim after a stray buffalo gored a 42-year-old man to death on Thursday morning. The tragic incident sparked outrage amongst the local community, with locals claiming that no authority, be it the Cuncolim Municipal Council or the Animal Husbandry officials responded to their call for help and assistance to impound the stray buffalo. The incident occurred on Thursday morning when the man, reportedly deaf and dumb, was gored to death by the buffalo when he was tendering his animals. He sustained critical injuries on his throat, resulting in his death on the way to the South Goa district hospital. A pall of gloom descended at the Gaonkar waddo as local residents pointed out that the well-built buffalo had strayed The stray buffalo that gored a local to death on Thursday. Santosh Mirajkar TRANQUILIZERS FAIL TO TAKE ROGUE BUFFALO >> See pg 3 into their locality around two months ago. Since then, they claimed the buffalo had unleashed a reign of terror in the locality with the animal going berserk, attacking the local populace. In fact, women pointed out that they have been treading a cautious path before going to their fields out of fear of being attacked by the animal. Local resident Joseph Dias said the tragedy could have been averted if the strayed animal was impounded and taken away by the authorities. “Today a pall of gloom has descended in Panzorconi after the animal gored the >Continued on P7 Unruly tourists to blame for sullying brand Goa: Report GLOBAL CONSULTANT SAYS GOA IS BEST DESTINATION THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Amidst the recent debate over the purported decline, both qualitative and quantitative, of Goa's tourism brand, a leading global consultant Horwath HTL India, has partly laid the blame on tourists in its 2024 Market Review report. Even as the report claims that "Goa is the best and main beach destination of India, by a long way", the consultant's India Hotel Market Review 2024 states that a vast majority of those going to Goa use beaches in an improper manner. "In some ways therefore, Goa is a victim of its own success. Its casual and easy-going lifestyle has been misinterpreted as a license to be improper and disrespectful in behaviour, showing all the negative effects of over-tourism," the report said. In an objective take of the tourism market's performance, the Horwath HTL report said hotel supply rose rapidly with 3,300 rooms added in just the HORWATH HTL INDIA REPORT Casual, easy-going lifestyle of Goans misinterpreted as license for disrespectful behaviour Failure is on many counts with greed being the lead common thread Warns that corrections must be made for longterm good even if attitu- last five years (2019-2024) and 2,000 of these added rooms were in 2023 and 2024. The report also refers to a "different type of crowding and cultural dilution to the point where Goa ceases to resemble what Goa is popular for" due to the presence of multiple homestays and villas, besides real estate projects. It states that failure is on many counts with greed being the common thread and warned corrections must be made even if attitudinally and commercially harsh for short-term. dinally and commercially harsh for the short-term Paints better picture of upper luxury segment of hotels and resorts On the economics, the report however paints a better picture saying the upper luxury segment of hotels and resorts got 70.5% occupancy, the highest in the last 10 years with healthy numbers in revenues. Other segments, including upper mid-segment and middle segment saw marginal declines in occupancy but gains in revenues, the Horwath HTL report states adding a kicker for the way forward: "We need to be careful that God-made Goa is not killed by crowding, carelessness & casual behaviour." Union ministry pushes Goa Indian deportees recount harrowing American experiences to fast-track coastal plan HANDCUFFED, CHAINED & THROWN LIKE BOXES… PTI STATE MISSES ANOTHER CZMP DEADLINE THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Raising serious concern over Goa’s persistent failure to finalise the coastal zone management plan (CZMP), the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has directed the State to further expedite the process to finalise the crucial plan based on CRZ notification 2019. The State has missed yet another deadline of January 31 to complete the much-de- The minutes of the meeting reveal that Goa SCZMA was advised to expedite the preparation of the draft CZMP in line with the CRZ notification 2019 layed plan as it had assured the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to finalise the plan by January end. The MoEF&CC had last month called for a meeting to review the status of CZMP and Integrated Island Man- agement Plans (IIMP), with Goa failing to complete both. Interestingly, Goa gave a miss to the meeting chaired by MoEF&CC (CRZ) Joint Secretary Rajat Agarwal. The State failed to send its representative for the meeting. “Goa SCZMA was advised to expedite the preparation of the draft CZMP in line with the CRZ notification 2019,” stated the minutes of the meeting. Thiruvananthapuram-based National Centre >Continued on P7 NEW DELHI ith hopes of a bright future and a better life for their families back home, they undertook perilous journeys to the US, only to return in shackles and with huge debts, stories of untold hardship and extortion -- both at home and in the land of their dreams. The deportees, who had attempted to enter the United States through illegal channels, were piled up in an aircraft and were reportedly shackled and restrained throughout the flight, only to be freed upon arrival in India. W Ruckus in LS over handcuffing issue NEW DELHI: Opposition parties on Thursday forced repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha over the deportation of Indians living illegally in the US, even as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted India was engaging the Trump administration to ensure that deportees were not mistreated during flights. The Lok Sabha was adjourned on four occasions as opposition members trooped into the Well of the House and raised slogans over the handcuffing of deportees from the US for the duration of their flight to India. Their journey began by scaling treacherous mountains, pushing through dense, unforgiving forests, and trudging for hundreds of kilometres -- all in pursuit of a singular dream: reaching the United States. For months, they journeyed across continents but at the end of this perilous road, they were met not with freedom, but with cold shackles and the US Border Patrol. Many of these migrants had spent vast sums -- often obtained through loans -- on promises of legal entry into the US. Jaspal Singh, a 36-yearold from Punjab, was among those deported. He said he paid Rs 30 lakh to an agent who promised him legal passage to the US. He first flew to Brazil, where he was told that the rest of his journey would also be by air. Instead, he was forced to take the dangerous "donkey route," an illegal and often perilous path. Singh spent six months in Brazil before attempting to cross into the US. However, he was arrested by the US Border Patrol on January 24 and detained for 11 days. "We had no idea we were being deported," he said. "We thought we were being moved to another detention center. Then they told us we were going back to India. We were handcuffed and our legs were chained until we landed in Amritsar... we were thrown like boxes into the plane". Harwinder Singh, from Hoshiarpur, paid Rs 42 lakh to an agent, and was taken through multiple countries: Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, and Mexico.
The new Goa, with a broader profile of people from different parts of India and the world, needs not just a strong local paper but a complete paper. The Goan on Saturday will connect to and be a viable and comprehensive read for locals, other Indians in Goa, NRI and foreigners. It will also be a bridge for Goans in other parts of India all over the world to their home land. The Goan is published by Goa's most reputed industrial houses.